Chapter 540

The True Story of Longevity Starting from a Grandmaster Alchemist, Chapter 547: Confession, New Mansion, Black King, Three Vengeful Monsters Attack, One Injured, Two Dead.

The aftermath was simple; it was nothing more than cleaning up the battlefield.

The living Demon Spider Crab was easy to handle; although it was third-tier, the processing method was no different from the first and second-tier ones before.

Then there were the two dead Demon Spider Crabs.

One had been blasted through the chest by Luo Chen with a single punch, yet it still left behind relics: two huge crab claws and a third-tier water-attribute demon core.

Zhu Qi, however, was in a more miserable state.

Luo Chen's Hunyuan Cauldron was made of excellent material, and even though the impurities had not been completely cleared, it could still unleash immense power under the throw of his ancient physique.

Moreover, years of uninterrupted refining and frequent alchemy had made his mastery of the Hunyuan Cauldron increasingly perfect.

Under that one strike, there was no corpse left, and not even the demon core survived.

However, the compass that served as the core of the grand formation, as well as the eight crab legs used to set up the formation, were preserved intact.

This was also a decent harvest.

Leaving the battlefield cleanup to the Black-Scaled Jiao, Luo Chen carefully reflected on the battle that had just taken place.

Beyond the methods of using spells, the combat power unleashed by his physique was very clearly visible.

Facing monster beasts that were also physically powerful, he could suppress those at the early third-tier without any suspense.

And mid-third-tier monster beasts were clearly no match for him either.

The reason he had been trapped in the grand formation was that he had been slightly careless.

After all, few people would expect monster beasts to use formations, the "scientific crystallization" of human cultivators.

This also served as a reminder to Luo Chen: one must never be careless when facing any enemy.

"The 'Ten Thousand Paths Convergence' which has already reached perfection, has derived the function of local body transformation, which has played a compensatory role in my pure physical combat."

"In this way, even without performing the complete Heavenly Peng true body transformation, I can still unleash a portion of my body-refining strength."

"And if I were to fully transform, late-stage third-tier ancient physique..."

Luo Chen pondered, his mind recalling the battle against the Golden Wolf King on the Heavenly Drum Plains.

Looking at it now, if he were to fully transform, he might be able to withstand the opponent's full-force frontal impact without suffering any harm.

In other words, his current strength was enough to not fear the vast majority of late-stage third-tier Great Demon Kings.

And if he waited until his fourth level of Core Formation was completely stabilized,

even when facing a late-stage Great Cultivator at the seventh level of Core Formation, he would have enough power to protect himself.

"And perhaps, if I am prepared, I could even fight and win?"

Luo Chen muttered to himself.

He was not quite sure of his true strength.

But no matter how unsure he was, he had the confidence to win strongly against Wu Qi's attacks.

"My physique is sufficient for cultivation, but lacking in training; I feel there is still a lot of room for development."

"Moreover, with the support of the Black Emperor Paste, there is a great chance of advancing to the fourth-tier level. If that happens, perhaps a true qualitative change will occur!"

While Luo Chen was summarizing, the Black-Scaled Jiao swam over cautiously.

"Master, these are all the spoils of war."

Luo Chen collected these items into his storage ring and then unleashed a massive Cleansing Spell over this sea area.

But after cleansing it, he couldn't help but shake his head.

Many battle auras could no longer be completely eliminated by low-level spells like the Cleansing Spell.

It could only achieve a short-term masking effect.

He looked around, made a decision in his heart, and took the Black-Scaled Jiao back to Seeing Tianxuan Island.

He first glanced at the Seeing Tianxuan Fighting Gull lying on the ground and frowned.

"What happened to this?"

The Seeing Tianxuan Fighting Gull replied in a low voice, "A late-stage Core Formation Great Cultivator placed a Demon-Suppressing Talisman on me, and I cannot mobilize my demon power at all."

Demon-Suppressing Talisman!

One of the most widely circulated types of talismans in the Northern Sea cultivation world, ranging from first-tier to fourth-tier, everything was available.

Its function was also very simple: to suppress the demon core of a monster beast and seal its entire body's demon power.

The reason such talismans existed

was that some cultivators liked to capture living monster beasts, raise and tame them, and turn them into spirit beasts.

Moreover, many liked to use them as rewards for juniors with low cultivation.

Therefore, to facilitate their taming of monster beasts, Demon-Suppressing Talismans were mostly used in pairs; the juniors would obtain them and use the talisman to drive monster beasts of higher cultivation than themselves.

Luo Chen released his spiritual sense and carefully inspected the Seeing Tianxuan Fighting Gull's body.

With the other party offering no resistance, he quickly found the third-tier Demon-Suppressing Talisman, which had already seeped into her demon core.

Without the practitioner actively unlocking it, this talisman was very difficult to clear.

Unless the master talisman was found.

Luo Chen looked carefully and nodded slightly.

"It's not a big problem. Even without the master talisman, if you give me some time, I can unlock it."

His confidence left both the Seeing Tianxuan Fighting Gull and the Black-Scaled Jiao stunned. Master could even unlock a Demon-Suppressing Talisman?

"You two should rest a little; we will leave with me in a while."

The Black-Scaled Jiao was stunned. "Are we leaving?"

Luo Chen did not answer him and returned to the cave dwelling alone.

As soon as he entered, he saw the black Soul-Refining Banner stuck at the entrance.

Han Zhan's voice came at the right time, "Congratulations, little friend, on your progress in the Dao!"

Luo Chen waved his hand, "A mere fourth level of Core Formation, not worth mentioning."

"I'm not just talking about the fourth level of Core Formation, but also this physique of yours! Three Demon Kings besieged you, and even one of them was a mid-stage Demon King who had mastered formations, yet you killed them so easily. Looking at cultivators at the Core Formation level, you can be considered one of the best among them."

Luo Chen twitched his lips and asked abruptly, "Compared to Gu Gu Shaoshang of Gu Feiyun Stream, how do I compare?"

On the way back, he had learned the detailed situation of that battle through the Black-Scaled Jiao.

He also learned the origin of that ship of cultivators, as well as the name of the leader, Gu Gu Shaoshang, the senior brother of Gu Feiyun Stream.

Han Zhan smiled, "I only fought him for a few breaths, and the Ten Thousand Soul Banner is not the magic treasure I am best at using, so it's not easy to judge. However, from what I can see, he is certainly not as good as you."

Luo Chen also smiled.

"According to what you said, Senior, he is not as good as me. Yet, he, at the seventh level of Core Formation, fought to a standstill with you, Senior, and in front of you, Senior, I still feel that this remnant soul of yours is as deep as the sea. Hehe..."

Han Zhan fell silent.

Luo Chen ignored him and walked straight into the cave dwelling.

Magic power surged, turning into red hands, collecting the miscellaneous medicinal herbs, books, wooden shelves, and cushions one by one into his storage ring.

The battle with the three Great Demon Kings of the Demon Spider Crab race had caused quite a stir.

Having killed three monsters, the Demon Spider Crab race would certainly not let it go.

These were not just some first or second-tier little crabs!

Seeing Tianxuan Island had already been exposed!

Therefore, abandoning this base was imperative.

This was also the reason why human cultivators rarely chose to cultivate in wild mountain ranges or monster sea territories.

A battle or two would easily attract the prying attacks of a large number of monster beasts.

Under those circumstances, quiet cultivation was simply impossible.

If it weren't for the two spirit beasts he had tamed, how could he have been so peaceful for these five years?

Leaving was the thing to do right now.

After packing everything up, Luo Chen looked at this cave dwelling, which possessed a small third-tier spirit vein, with a bit of reluctance.

"What a pity."

He muttered, and with a wave of his large sleeve,

the formation flags buried underground flew toward him like streaks of light, and a crunching sound came from above the cave dwelling.

Large swaths of falling rocks and gravel rained down.

He turned and left.

Passing by the entrance, he recalled the Soul-Refining Banner.

In the sky, a faint white cloud was flying slowly.

Luo Chen held the compass left behind by Zhu Qi, fiddling with it constantly.

This was a water-attribute formation disk.

With his current small accomplishments in formation cultivation, he could observe that there were a full thirteen formations engraved on it.

Ten of them were common first and second-tier formations.

And the other three were quite extraordinary third-tier grand formations.

The Sea-Sealing Bagua Formation was among them.

This formation was strong in drawing endless water vapor from the sea to form a sealing and trapping formation. Once inside, if there was no absolute explosive power, the formation setter was almost invincible.

After all, human strength has its limits, but the sea is boundless.

Luo Chen relied on his late-stage third-tier ancient physique and the high-grade magic treasure Hunyuan Cauldron, which he had been refining for a long time, to break it with brute force in one go.

If it were anyone else, they would have long been trapped inside and killed by those blood-colored spider silks.

Besides the Sea-Sealing Bagua Formation, there was also a Lanyun Dense Mist Formation, which had a very strong concealment effect.

As for the last third-tier grand formation, Luo Chen couldn't tell its origin.

While he was studying the formation disk, his eyebrows suddenly twitched.

With a flip of his wrist, the Soul-Refining Banner appeared in front of him.

"Senior, is there anything you want to say to me?"

From within the Soul Banner, Han Zhan sighed and said, "I just want to tell you that the soul origin remaining in this remnant soul of mine is very little, and it is the key to my future body reconstruction and re-cultivation. Unless it is a last resort, I cannot go all out for some weak enemies and damage my origin."

Luo Chen sneered.

Sure enough, Han Zhan had kept a hand.

When dealing with Wu Qi before, he used the excuse of excessive damage to low-level souls in the Soul-Refining Banner to cover up the fact that he couldn't stop the opponent, forcing Luo Chen to take action himself to stop Wu Qi from landing on the Du Feiyan Islands.

But over these few years, he had filled the Soul-Refining Banner with the souls of all the first and second-tier monster crabs he had hunted.

This banner had long since recovered the quality of a Ten Thousand Soul Banner!

It could even be said that because Luo Chen had killed Yan Nantian years ago, the many Foundation Establishment souls in this banner had divided and devoured Yan Nantian's soul, giving those hundreds of Foundation Establishment souls a third-tier foundation.

After massively replenishing low-level souls, one of the Foundation Establishment Great Perfection souls inside had relied on devouring and fusion to gradually advance to the third-tier Ghost King level.

This was also the reason why there was a second Ghost King in the Soul-Refining Banner when Han Zhan activated it, besides the original one.

Under such circumstances, this banner was already a genuine Ten Thousand Soul Banner!

And with Han Zhan, who was at the Nascent Soul stage, as the operator, no matter how bad it was, how could a mere seventh-level Core Formation cultivator be his match?

Yet, while blocking Gu Gu Shaoshang, Han Zhan had still needed the Black-Scaled Jiao to perform its innate demon technique to barely save the Seeing Tianxuan Fighting Gull.

For this, he had also brought disaster to their doorstep.

It could be said that Han Zhan had always been consciously holding back, hiding his true capabilities.

Thinking of the battle against the Ao Xiao Wolf Emperor on the Heavenly Drum Plains and all his deeds on Mount Cangwu Mountain, this person was truly cunning and very fond of keeping a trump card or two.

Hearing the reason for holding back at this moment, Luo Chen could only sneer.

"I don't know if what you said is true or false, but since you, Senior, chose to travel with me in the Demon Sea and have the constraints of the Great Dao oath, I think sincere cooperation is still the best."

Han Zhan asked back, "Does the sincere cooperation you speak of mean going all out for the other party?"

Luo Chen pondered for a moment, and after weighing the pros and cons, he said leisurely, "I hope so."

Han Zhan chuckled, "Then I might as well speak plainly. What I want, perhaps even if you go all out, you might not be able to do."

"Speak plainly!"

"Relying on hard cultivation to recover my Nascent Soul cultivation is already impossible for me. And if I were to seize the body of a Core Formation cultivator, I could not rely on that body to pass the Nascent Soul tribulation. So, I need a Nascent Soul cultivator, and it must be the body of a human cultivator, for me to reconstruct my body and re-cultivate, and rebuild my Dao foundation. Luo Chen, can you do it?"

The leisure on Luo Chen's face disappeared.

Splash!

On the ocean, bubbles surged, and as the ripples dissipated, it gradually returned to calm.

Beneath the sea surface, two figures dived deeper and deeper.

Finally, they arrived at a very deep submarine gully.

The Black-Scaled Jiao stopped and said respectfully, "Master, this is the most secret of the three backup bases."

Luo Chen looked at this gully, which was thousands of feet long and whose end could not be seen, with red corals swaying on both sides.

Those were blood corals!

Second-tier spirit plants, spiritual, possessing powerful offensive capabilities.

Because of their gorgeous appearance, they often attracted sea creatures to feed on them.

Therefore, this place could also be considered a dangerous area, and ordinary low-level monster beasts would not come here.

He nodded with satisfaction.

The exposure of Seeing Tianxuan Island was within his expectations.

Therefore, long ago, he had ordered Seeing Tianxuan and the Black-Scaled Jiao to find backup bases for him.

This was one of them, and also the most hidden one.

The Black-Scaled Jiao hesitated and said, "Master, there is only a second-tier spirit vein here, and it's water-attribute. I'm afraid it's not suitable for your cultivation. Why don't we go to Huagu Island instead!"

Luo Chen waved his hand and walked toward the coral gully.

"Huagu Island is too dangerous. Although it has a third-tier spirit vein, it is occupied by a large number of Hidden Dust Sands, and it is adjacent to the Nine-Clawed Poison King Crab."

"Less trouble is better than more."

"Besides, I have advanced to the fourth level of Core Formation, and for the time being, I will focus on stabilizing my realm, so I don't need a place with a very good spirit vein."

Entering the coral gully,

Luo Chen looked around and finally stopped under a rock wall.

"Let's do it here!"